Portland: Rounds four, five preview

-- STAR MAZDA REPLACES CHAMP CAR AT PIR --
The Mazda Grand Prix of Portland is a brand-new kind of racing weekend
showcasing the Star Mazda Championship and a variety of modern
motorsports
Rounds 4 and 5 of the 12-race 2008 Star Mazda ...

-- STAR MAZDA REPLACES CHAMP CAR AT PIR --

The Mazda Grand Prix of Portland is a brand-new kind of racing weekend
showcasing the Star Mazda Championship and a variety of modern
motorsports

Rounds 4 and 5 of the 12-race 2008 Star Mazda Championship presented by
Goodyear take place July 25 -- 27 at Portland International Raceway
under... unique circumstances. Not only is the series embroiled in one
of the hottest championship battles in recent years with three different
winners in the first three races, but, with the Champ Car/IRL unification
scrambling the schedule, the Star Mazda Championship becomes the main
event at this weekend's Mazda Grand Prix of Portland.

The Star Mazda Championship race at PIR race in 2007 was a rainy affair
that saw a first-lap, first-turn accident take out both top qualifiers,
including Dane Cameron, who went on to win the 2007 championship. Rookie
Devin Cunningham won splashed his way to victory in the #33 AIM
Autosport/Discovery Channel Mazda, followed by Natacha Gachnang and Ron
White.

This year's PIR weekend will be vastly different than any before, and
presents a unique opportunity for the Star Mazda Championship to take
center stage as the main event of the weekend. The Mazda Grand Prix of
Portland will showcase an extraordinarily diverse variety of racing,
including a Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear double-header
as well as the Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup. Also on the schedule are the
Oregon Brewers Festival, bicycles, drag racing and motocross, as well as
a huge 'cruise in,' drifting and a 'time attack.'

The Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear will race twice, once
on Saturday July 26th and again on Sunday July 27th. On both days the
race, featuring the series' new standing start format, will take
place from 2 -- 3 pm.

Joel Miller dominated the season-opener at Sebring, winning from the pole
in the #20 JDC Motorsports/Mazda/K&N Air Filter Mazda. Round 2 at Miller
Motorsports Park surprised everyone with a dominant victory, again from
the pole, by last-minute entrant and ex-Red Bull/Forsythe Atlantic racer
John Edwards in the #7 AIM Autosport Mazda. And although Alex Ardoin,
winner of the 2007 season-ending race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca sat on
the pole for Round 3 at Watkins Glen, it was Charles Hall -- who
finished 2nd at Both Sebring and Miller -- who crossed the finish line
first in the #77 Andersen Racing/Blimpie/ AccentBanking.com/Pardoes
Solicitors/Allied Mazda... and took over the lead in the driver
championship points battle with Miller in second just two points behind,
124 to 122.

Among the 30+ field of Star Mazda Championship cars drag-racing into Turn
1 is a remarkable diversity of drivers, including competitors from U.S.,
Canada, Mexico, Brazil, U.K., Ireland, Gibraltar and Poland -- as well as
drivers ranging in age from 16 to 50-something, company CEOs, a
brother/sister team and three fast female racers.Drivers on the 'ones to watch' list include Irishman Peter
Dempsey who has finished in the top-4 at all three previous events and is
currently 3rd in the championship with 105 points driving the #21
Andersen Racing / Center Jewellers.ie / Quayside.ie / Allied Mazda.JDempsey will debut a new sponsor at PIR, LotusWorks, a global provider of
technical, construction and management services. Its customers include a
range of process manufacturing industries, commercial and industrial
construction companies, electric utilities, power project developers,
financial institutions and installation contractors around the world.

"LotusWorks is happy and excited to support Peter Dempsey in the Star
Mazda Championship," said Steve Ostrowski, president of LotusCM, the
construction management division of LotusWorks, and president of
LotusGroup's North American operations. "We view this as an excellent
opportunity to get involved with a young and talented Irish driver. It is
also a great way to thank all our customers for being part of LotusWorks.
We would like to wish Peter the best of luck."

Alex Ardoin, the Louisiana native who won the 2007 Star Mazda
season-ender at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca started from the pole and
finished 3rd at Watkins Glen and comes to PIR 4th in the championship
with 98 points. And serving notice that he has stepped up his game with
a standout 5th-place finish in Round 3 is Billy Goshen in the #82 Goshen
Motorsports/Merv Griffin Entertainment/Global Tracking Mazda. Goshen is
5th in the championship with 86 points.

Of the three female racers in the field, Kristy Kester, half of the
brother/sister Kester Racing team, is setting the pace. The 19 year-old
biomedical science major at Texas A&M scored an impressive 8th-place
finish at Sebring in the #48 Kester Racing/Texas World Speedway/Unifirst
Mazda. Unable to qualify at Watkins Glen due to a mechanical problem,
she started dead last and raced her way to a 12th-place finish and
currently sits 9th in the championship points battle. Michelle
Bumgarner, a 19-year old native of Manila, Philippines is an
international karting champion and Formula BMW graduate who scored a
top-20 finish in Round Two driving the #33 John Walko Racing/Specturm-OSO
Asia/Oakley/Philippines Department of Tourism Mazda. Natalia Kowalska of
Biesiekeirz, Poland, is a karting champion who has raced in the European
Formula Renault series. She made her Star Mazda Championship debut in
Round 3, where she finished 12th in the #43 John Walko Racing/ Natan
Developments Mazda.

In the Expert Series (drivers 30-44), the current class championship
leader with two class victories and one 2nd-place finish is Vancouver,
B.C. native Chris Cumming, driver of the #16 World Speed Motorsports /
Inviro Medical Mazda. He finished 10h overall at Watkins Glen. Leading
the Master Series (drivers 44 and older) is Californian Chuck Hulse,
driver of the #12 JDC Motorsports/Silicon Salvage Mazda, with two class
victories.

For the younger drivers on their way up the Motorsports ladder, the Star
Mazda Championship -- now in its 18th year as one of the most prolific
and successful open-wheel driver development series in auto racing today
-- is the college basketball, the triple-A baseball, the Junior A hockey
of auto racing, a high-speed training ground for future stars of the
sport, such as the most recent American Formula One driver Scott Speed,
Indy Car stars Marco Andretti and Graham Rahal and prototype phenom Colin
Braun as well as the newest addition to Michael Waltrip's NASCAR
Sprint Cup team, Michael McDowell, who won the 2005 Star Mazda
Championship.

For more mature drivers in whom the competitive fire still burns
brightly, the Star Mazda Championship provides a high-profile stage in
the form of the Expert (drivers 30 to 44 years old) and Master Series
(drivers 45 and older). Expert and Master drivers compete for points and
prize money right along with the young hotshoes, but are also competing
among themselves for a place on the podium with the top-3 finishers as
well as their own year-end championship.

The Mazda Grand Prix of Portland at Portland International Raceway, July
25 -- 27, is a 'double-header' weekend with two qualifying
sessions and two races. On track activities begin with a Promoter test
day on July 24, followed by official practice on July 25. Qualifying for
the first race (Round Four) will take place 10:00 to 10:45 am Saturday,
July 26, with the race scheduled to take the green flag at 2:00 pm (all
times are West Coast). Qualifying and race two (Round Five) take place
at precisely the same times on Sunday, July 27. The races will be
broadcast on SPEED, on August 9, Round four at 12 noon (ET) and round 5
at 1:00 pm (TV times are Eastern Time).